Friday, October 2
Lunch was normal I sat with Alex, but he wasn’t really paying attention to what I was saying, or his food. I’d never seen him not eat before. He was usually wolfing down his lunch, and seagulling from me and his friends.
“Are you going to be alright?” I asked him. “You look a little spaced out today. Do you feel sick? Should you go to the nurses office?”
“I feel fine,” Alex said, obviously lying. He took a bite out of his sandwich, but chewed very slowly.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes,” he insisted.
I let the matter drop, and we finished eating out lunches. We headed to Chem, and went to sit at our desks. Mr. Creeves started lecturing about some molecular cycle, and I just kept glancing at Alex. He seemed to be dozing off, but his face was covered in sweat.
“Mr. Creeves,” I said, standing. Everyone in class looked at me.
“What’s wrong, Paul?” he asked, turning away from the white board.
“It seems like Alex isn’t doing so hot over there.” I directed everyone’s attention towards him, and they noticed how he wasn't really paying attention.
“Would you like to go to the nurses office?” Mr. Creeves asked him. He didn’t say anything, but just nodded his head. “Paul, take your things and make sure he doesn’t collapse in the hallway.”
I quickly packed my binder and laptop, going over to do the same with Alex’s things. The two of us walked out of the classroom and down the hall. As soon as we were away from the classrooms, Alex collapsed onto me. I was a little surprised, but supported him so he didn't fall.
“Hey are you gonna be alright?” I asked.
“Sure,” he muttered. I rolled my eyes, but tried not to make it too obvious.
“Come on. Can you walk a little bit? The nurses office is on the other side of the school and I can’t carry you.” He put his arm over my shoulders and we started walking down the hall.
As we walked by the staircase between the two Science hallways, I remembered something. The students who skipped class would often hang out there, but would never get caught by teachers or the principal. It was painful to hear about how they bent the rules their way. At most, I heard they got detentions.
But I was in a hurry to get to the nurses office and going by that staircase was the fastest way.
“Hey lookie here fellas,” a voice said. I stopped, and looked to my side. There were three students—two boys and a girl—, all of them holding something in their hands. The boys wore jeans and T-shirts, one wearing a leather jacket. The girl wore jean shorts with a flannel shirt tied around her waist. She wore a grey tank top with a skull on it. I didn’t know their names, or their grades, so I just tried to continue walking.
“Don’t walk away from me,” Student B said, standing and walking over to me. Student A was the one with the leather jacket. He smiled smugly, yanking on my arm. Alex stumbled to the other side of the hallway, crumpling to the ground. I could tell he was still conscious, but was preoccupied with the delinquents.
“I’ve heard about you,” Student A said. “You’re that kid who used to do my brother’s homework last year.”
I tried to remember. I did a lot of students homework over the past couple years, but stopped doing business this year since I was a senior. Maybe Student A’s brother was past clients and that’s why they stuck around here.
“I’m not interested in doing you homework,” I said. “Now leave me alone.” As I turned around, I heard the girl sigh.
“Aww,” she whined. “Why’d you boys have to scare him away? I wanted to play with him some more.”
I sighed, turning to her. “You all have the subtlety of a brick and the depth of a shot glass.”
“Are you insulting us, nerd?” Student A asked, grabbing my shirt.
“You do realize people just tolerate you, right?”
My cheek stung as my heard was jerked to the side. I’d never been slapped before. Not even by Mother. Student B joined in, punching me in the stomach. I forced myself not to throw up, but fell on the ground holding my stomach. They started kicking me, and I covered my head with my arms. One of them stomped their foot on my left wrist, and I could feel something break.
“Hey!” I heard a somewhat familiar voice call. I peeked over my arms, and saw Ethan running over with his teacher.
Student A cursed, grabbing his backpack before running down the hall with the other two. Ethan helped me up, and the science teacher went over to help Alex up.
“He’s unconscious,” the teacher asked. “Ethan go get Mrs. Carter other there.” She nodded towards the nearest classroom, and Ethan hurried over. “What’s your name?”
“It’s Paul,” I answered.
“I’m Mrs. Larson one of the other Chemistry teachers,” she said. Ethan came back with Mrs. Carter, the Anatomy and Physiology teacher. She still had her lab goggles on the top of her head. The two teachers helped carry Alex, and Ethan walked by my side.
“How did this happen?” he asked quietly.
“I was just taking him to the nurse when those three students stopped me,” I explained. “I might’ve made them mad, but I didn’t expect them to be violent in school.”
“They don’t care if they’re expelled,” Ethan said. “They’re probably just pampered rich kids who want their parent’s attention. I’d say at least 10% of this school is like that. Most students aren’t violent about it, though.”
We walked down another hall, and past the main office. The woman at the front desk stood when she saw all of us, and hurried towards Mr. Jones’s office. I walked into the nurses office first, and an older woman was at her desk. The office was empty, with two smaller rooms and a bathroom. In one of the smaller rooms there were three cots with separating curtains. The other room was dark, with the door half shut.
The woman stood, and immediately went over to tend to Alex. I followed them into the cot room and sat on the edge of Alex’s cot. Ethan hurried to get some tissues for my bloody nose and cut lip.
“We’re going back to our classes,” Mrs. Larson said, heading back towards the door. “We’re still teaching this block and our classes were left alone.”
“I’ll take care of them from here,” the nurse said.
“Come on, Ethan,” Mrs. Larson beckoned. “You can’t stay here. They’ll be fine.” I waved Ethan away, and he just looked at me once more before leaving.
“Care to explain?” the nurse asked.
I nodded, starting the story during lunch. She listened while checking my nose for any broken bones before checking my wrist. I finished the recent activities, and she sighed.
“You’re going to need an x-ray,” she said. “Are your parents at home or are they at work?”
“Oh you can just call my older brother,” I said. “My parents aren’t in the country right now.” The nurse nodded, and left the smaller room, going over to her desk to contact Scott. I looked over Alex who probably just had a cold. I took his hand in mine, feeling his warmth. I had put our backpacks on the floor, and reached over to dig out my phone. There were messages from Travis, Skyler, Mark and Jack. All of them were really concerned. Seeing their messages, I fished out Alex’s phone and saw his soccer group chat had exploded. Ethan had told them, and they were all wondering what they were going to do for the game.
Right.
The soccer game Alex was supposed to go to.
The nurse walked back in with some cold medicine and water. She put them on the table beside Alex and then looked at me.
“Your brother is on his way,” she explained. “I’d get ready to go. Don’t worry. Alex will be just fine after a couple days of rest. It seems he’s been stressed out about a lot of stuff so his body couldn’t keep up.”
“Thanks Mrs. Moon,” I said, finally remembering the nurses name.
As I waited for Scott, I used Alex’s phone to text his teammates.
Me: Hey everyone it’s Paul. Alex is in the nurses office with a seriously bad cold. Idk if he’s going to be able to go to the game tonight.
Declan: Noooooooooo
Kyle: What r we gonna to do?
Brayden: We’ll probably have to reform our strategy tonight
Travis: The town were plaing today isn’t that good
Aidan: ya we’ll b fine
Kevin: Take care of him Paul😉😏
Me: I’m going to the hospital to get an x-ray for by broken wrist so I’m leaving school
Ethan: r u sure you’re gonna b ok?
Me: I’m fine but someone else needs to look after your captain
Izan: I thought idiots didn’t catch colds
Aidan Fisherman, Declan Buckley and Kevin Browne liked “I thought idiots didn’t catch colds”
The others continued to talk about the game tonight, but I saw Mrs. Moon waving me over. I put Alex phone on the side table and grabbed my backpack, giving one last look at Alex. He was sleeping with no sign of waking up. I walked out of the room, and headed out of the nurses office towards the main office. I saw Scott waiting, and he ran over, embracing me tightly.
“You’ve never gotten into trouble before,” he said. “I was so scared when I got a call from the school. Come on, let’s get you to the hospital.”
The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur.
After arriving at the hospital, I had to wait for about an hour and a half for my x-ray. The doctor said it was a small fracture, but I would need to wear a cast for two to three months. Scott and I waited another hour to get my cast. As my wrist was getting fitted, Scott had to go fax some paperwork to Mother and Father. I sat in the small room as the doctor started wrapping the cast on my wrist.
“Here is your medicine and your health forms for the school nurse,” the doctor said, handing me a small pill bottle and a few sheets of paper. “If you have any more problems, come back and see me.”
“Thank you,” I said, heading out into the lobby. Scott wasn’t there yet, so I just went over to sit in one of the empty chairs in the corner. I checked my phone and saw it was a little passed 4. I replied to the text on my way to the hospital, and everyone sent me their thoughts. I wanted to go to the soccer game since it wasn’t too far away, but I was having second thoughts about it. I didn’t even know if Alex was going to play.
“Are you ready?” Scott asked, walking over to me.
I stood, following him out into the parking lot. There were dark clouds in the sky, but I didn’t know if it was going to rain or not. As soon as we were in the car, Scott looked at me.
“You told me this was a sudden thing,” he said. “I know you’re not being bullied, but is there anything you want to talk about?”
“Not in particular,” I said, turning to look out the window. “I already told you I was just helping a sick friend to the nurses office when some underclassmen delinquents started picking on me. They said some things, and I said some things, and then they started punching and kicking me.”
“It’s like middle school all over again,” Scott muttered.
I snapped my head towards him. “This was not like middle school! Back then, I was still a naive little kid. Now I know when to speak up and when to keep my mouth shut. And he was involved making me feel depressed and unwanted and-”
“Ok, ok,” Scott interrupted. “I understand. Let’s head home. I’ll make you something good tonight.”
Smiling, I was about to say something when my phone started ringing. A call from Alex. I looked at Scott who just started pulling out of the parking lot. I looked back at my phone and pressed the green button.
“Alex?” I asked. “Are you feeling better? Do you have a fever? Are you playing in the game tonight?”
“Yes, no and no,” Alex chuckled. “I’m still going, but everyone convinced me to sit on the bench. Are you going to come? I want to thank you in person for taking me to the nurses office.” I hesitated, not knowing what to say. Did he forget about what happened? “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”
“No,” I said, forcing a laugh. “Nothing. I guess I’ll come to the game, if you really want me to.”
“Really? Great! I’ll see you then!” He hung up, and I sighed, looking at Scott.
“Can you take me to Hignham High School?” I asked.
“Sure but why?”
“My friend wants me to go to his soccer game.”
“I didn’t know you were interested in sports.”
“Shut up. It’s a kid Auntie wanted me to tutor and it’s the kid from this afternoon.”
“Is he your type?” Scott asked, giving me a side glance.
“Shut up and just take me there!”
Scott laughed, and I just looked away in annoyance. Alex and I were just friends. I didn’t want anything to get weird between us…
The image of Alex kissing me popped into my head. I shook my head vigorously, trying to stop my face from heating up. I mean, he always annoyed me, with his stupid face and his dashing smile.
No! What the hell am I thinking about!
I promised myself I wouldn’t make the same mistakes again! I’ve survived through high school without having a relationship, so why was I starting to have second thoughts?
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